Greening City Schools

Lynch School Associate Professor Mike Barnett talks about Touch Tree, a new mobile phone app, and "vertical farming"— two of the innovative urban ecology projects he is developing with fellow Lynch School researchers and students. Designed to identify the ecological value of trees and build a database of trees in urban neighborhoods, Touch Tree will run on iPhone and Android operating systems.  New technology for vertical farming, shown here, allows students from low-income neighborhoods to grow food in labs, then sell it at farmer’s markets, or give it away to family, friends, and neighbor, says Barnett.